Gun Gear: High Noon Bare Asset

Make: High Noon Holsters
Model: Bare Asset

This was the first holster I evaluated in my p229 Holster Hunt.

I found this holster in a gun forum classifieds section.  High Noon seemed to have a decent reputation on the interwebs, and for just $20 it seemed like a worthwhile gamble. 

High Noon makes higher end leather holsters with longer turn-around times, but the Bare Asset is one of their "stocking items" and costs about a fifth of the price.  Given that, I wasn't expecting too much, but I was pleasantly surprised when I got my hands on it.

This is a very soft, very thin holster, but feels well made.  There's a good metal belt clip that does exactly what it's supposed to do.  What really surprised me was that even though there's no metal strip to stiffen the mouth of the holster like you'd see on higher end models, there's a thicker strip of leather there that keeps it open just wide enough to let me re-holster one-handed very effectively.

I really wanted to like this one, mainly because if it did the job right, I'd only be out $20 and I would have nailed the perfect holster on my first try.  But on the first day of wearing it, I realized it wasn't going to be that easy.  I wore it at the 4 o'clock position and within a few hours, I noticed that my lower back was actually aching.  It was odd since it wasn't a jabbing pain like the gun and holster were poking me in the side.  It was more like a general muscle ache you'd get from repetitive strain.  Hard to say exactly what the cause was, but there was no getting around the fact that it just plain hurt.  I wanted to try to wear it eight straight hours, but eventually I just had to give up.

I actually don't think this was due to any intrinsic fault of the holster itself.  It's well made, and does what it says it'll do.  I think this is just back to the problem of every holster fitting differently on every body.

I do like the overall fit and finish of the product, though.  I'll have to revisit High Noon when it comes time to get a holster for the pocket revolver.